


A Rose by Any Other Name

by FanGirlofManyThings



Series: Almost Normal [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Childhood, Gen, Mentions of Five - Freeform, Moment in time, family moment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-03-01 04:00:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18792559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanGirlofManyThings/pseuds/FanGirlofManyThings
Summary: A short thing about how the Hargreeves children got their names.





	A Rose by Any Other Name

**Author's Note:**

> This little thing came to me because I realized that unlike his siblings Five doesn't have a real name so the others must have gotten their real names sometime after he ran away.

“Mom,” Number Three started before cutting herself off.

They were eating breakfast in the kitchen, the one meal of the day they didn’t share with their father. Without his commanding presence they were free to talk amongst themselves, if they weren’t too worn out from their pre-breakfast run. Which most days they were, sometimes if the mission the day before had been particularly interesting they would discuss it. 

“What is it dear?” Mom asked turning away from the stove with a fresh stack of pancakes.

Number Three glanced around the table at her siblings. With a nod to none of them in particular, she steeled herself to ask a question that had been on her mind since the last post-mission interview they had done. 

“Why don’t we have names?”

“What are you talking about, silly?” Mom said with a giggle. “Your father gave you names.”

“Numbers,” Number Two growled under his breath. “He gave us rankings, not names.” 

Three shot him a dirty look. Acting like a prick wasn’t helping here, she had a plan. Well sort of, more like she had an idea. Either way, him being sassy about Father wouldn’t help. He stuck his tongue out at her but she ignored it. Getting drawn into a squabble wouldn’t help either.

“Number Two is right,” Three said, with none of the venom Two had. “Everybody else in the world has a name. We just have numbers.”

“There’s nothing wrong with our names,” Number One said.

“Of course you’d t-th-th-think that”- if looks could kill One would be slumped over in his seat right now- “Number One.”

The words came out of Two’s mouth like a curse, hateful and vicious. The stare that accompanied them was sharper than any of his knives. One’s answering glare was no less angry.

“Please don’t fight,” Number Six said quietly. 

His hero name might be The Horror, but Six was by far the gentlest of all her brothers. A kind soul, who hated when One and Two started at each other in a pissing match, that almost always escalated into a full out fight now a days.

“Mom,” Three called the attention of the room back to her, well everyone except Number Four who appeared blissed out on whatever drug he had snuck between the end of their run and the start of breakfast. “We’re 16 now, we’re almost adults. I don’t want the whole world to only know me as The Rumor or Number Three. What happens if I get married one day?”

Four started humming here comes the bride, swaying his hands and head along with the tune. Three shook her head, she never could predict which part of a conversation would catch her wayward brother’s attention. 

“Just pick something then, Three, If it bothers you that much.” One said before shoveling a forkful of eggs into his mouth.

Three could feel the heat on her cheeks before she even spoke, well maybe whispered was a better word, “Cause parents are supposed to name their kids.”

“Speak up, Three. We don’t mumble,” Mom admonished her gently.

“I said, because parents are supposed to name their kids.” 

She raised her chin and pulled her back straight, just like their father had taught them. If she appeared more confident, maybe she would start to feel that way too. She had convinced herself that it wasn’t a crazy idea to ask Mom to give her a real name. Something she wouldn’t be embarrassed to hear a boyfriend call her, something to maybe give to a casting director one day.

“Oh, honey,” Mom was smiling gently at her now, with a touch of sadness in her eyes. 

“Don’t look at me like that,” Three said angrily.

She didn’t want, didn’t need pity. Especially not her mother’s. She had every right to want a real name. It was demeaning that she didn’t have one and her mother’s pity even more so.

“Don’t talk to m-mo-mom like that!” Two had his butter knife pointed at her.

“It’s okay,” Mom said, laying a hand on Two’s wrist. 

“Mom,” Six spoke before she could say anything else. “Would you please give us real names?”

“Dad already named us,” One protested again, a little weaker this time. 

“You can’t really believe our numbers are the same as the names everybody else in the world has,” Three said, placing a hand on his bicep. “Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to feel normal, even just for a little bit.”

One looked at her and she tried to convey how much she wanted this without saying anything. Maybe she succeeded because he nodded once and turned back to their mother.

“Please give us names, Mom.” 

“Of course dear,” She said with her ever present smile. “If that’s what all of you want.”

She glanced at Two who nodded sharply. With a happy hum, she patted his cheek before turning towards Seven. Three had almost forgotten she was there, quiet as a dormouse, she sitting at the end of the table.

“Seven, would you like a name?” 

The wide eyed expression betrayed that she had assumed she was not a part of this discussion. Her eyes flicked between her siblings, uncertainty clear in her features. Three tried to give her a reassuring smile.

“Um, yeah, I guess,” Seven answered in her soft voice. “If it’s what everyone else wants.”

Mom gave her a wide smile before her attention turned to Four who was still humming his tune, eyes closed.

“What about you, Number Four,” She asked without trying to get his attention first.

“What was that, mother dearest,” Four asked, eyes blinking rapidly as he tried to focus on the room. 

“Your siblings have asked me to gift them with real names. Would you like one as well?” Her smile never faded as she looked over the obviously intoxicated Four. 

“Oh, well that sounds wonderful,” Four clapped his hands. “Anything is less creepy then Seance and Four is just so-” he drew the word out “-blase.” 

“Alright then,” She clapped her hands together once. “In a line then.”

It was insticual at this point, nearly 16 years of that command and they followed without thinking. Chairs scraped along the floor and silverware clattered as they scrambled to obey. Falling into a neat line, Starting with One and ending with Seven. A neat row, feet together, shoulders back, chests out, hands at their side, shoulder to shoulder, even Four stood at attention though he somehow managed to give it a mocking appearance.

Mom’s heels clicked on the tile as she walked around the table to stand in front of Number One. She looked him over, cupping his cheek. For a long moment she just looked at him, thinking but it didn’t take her too long to decide.

“Luther,” She told him with a smile. “Your name is Luther.”

Newly christened, Luther nodded like he was accepting a mission not being given a name for the first time in his life. Three rolled her eyes, he was always so serious.

She took a step to the side and looked over Two, he bore the most scars out of all of them. From this angle, Three could see the one on his eyebrow but she knew there was another on this other cheek and more under his shirt. A product of his close combat fighting style but lacking On- Luther’s strength to throw his opponents out of range.

“Diego,” Three liked the way her red lips formed the O in Diego’s new name. “I name you Diego.”

A smile twitched on Diego’s face, clearly pleased with her choice, but he quickly schooled it. Three loved her brother, but his desire to appear strong by repressing the emotions he clearly had made her sad. They already had one emotionally repressed brother, they didn’t need a second. Especially when it hurt Diego so much more than Luther to push his emotions down.

She blinked and Mom was standing in front of her, smiling as always. That same gentle smile she always wore, Three found so much comfort in it. Mom held her gaze for a long moment, staring into her eyes.

“Allison,” She smoothed a thumb across her cheekbone as she said it. “You are Allison.”

It was a pretty name but strong, Three liked it instantly. It would sound equally good from a boyfriend’s lips as it would a casting director’s.

“Thank you, Mom,” Allison said, answering her smile with one of her own. 

Mom’s smile widened a fraction and then she moved down the line again. Four was clearly having trouble focusing his attention, blinking long and hard, but he was trying. Only for Mom did he ever try this hard to appear sober. The rest of them didn’t matter, which Allison had always found amusing because Mom never judged him even when he was very obviously high. No one else ever looked at him quite as kindly, except for maybe Number Six. 

“Klaus,” She pushed an errant curl back behind his ear. “From now on your name is Klaus.”

“Ooh, lovely,” He cooed. “Klaus!”

Mom patted his head and stepped to her left, moving down the line to Six. 

After Five had left, the first time they’d been told to line up, they’d left a spot for him. The thorough tongue lashing they had received had ensured they never did it again.

Six mirrored Mom’s smile, gazing steadily back at her. 

“Benedict,” She giggled as he wrinkled his nose. “Ben for short.”

His face smoothed instantly and he nodded. Apparently, he could accept Ben. Mom tapped a finger on the end of his nose and he smiled at her.

“I like Ben. Thank you.”

For the final time, Mom stepped to her left. Seven couldn’t bring her gaze to meet Mom’s eyes, staring somewhere over her shoulder but Mom never minded. As with the rest of them, She took Seven’s quirks in stride.

“Vanya,” She told her. “For you, Vanya.”

Vanya never moved her gaze but there was a faint smile on her lips, “Thank you.”

It was barely more than a whisper but Mom looked pleased nonetheless. 

“There,” Mom said happily. “Now you all have wonderful names to take into the world with you.”

Allison found herself wishing Mom had given Five a name as she followed her brothers out of the kitchen to the gym for hand to hand practice.It would be nice to think about him as more than just a number or that awful portrait staring down at them.


End file.
